A Good night's Rest
by Dianogon
Summary: Ever since Corrin chose her home country over the family who raised her, she had been plagued by horrible nightmares. Azura's teasing horribly backfired, and she tried her best to make up for it.
"Lady Corrin, are you alright?!" Jakob yelled as he stormed into Corrin's room, armed with one of his daggers. The princess jolted up from her sleep in shock, very confused. "Jakob, what are you…?" She muttered as she tried to make sense of what had happened. "I heard you screaming from as far as the kitchen, so I quickly came here. Gods, I thought there was a Nohrian intruder in your room!" Her butler explained, putting away his weapon. Corrin sighed in relief and let herself fall back into her pillow. "I'm sorry for making you worry, and I hope I didn't wake anyone up…" The girl apologized with a soft voice. "It's nothing to worry about, really."

This prompted the butler to sit on her bed, and try to get the girl to talk about her troubles. "You can tell me, lady Corrin. If anything's bothering you, I'm sure I can help you fix it."

"I don't think you can. It's just… I've been having a lot of awful nightmares, lately. I either can't sleep because I'm thinking about them, or wake up in the middle of the night due to them." The dragon girl sat up again and wrapped her arms around her knees, staring downwards. "They always change, too. I've dreamed about my mother's death, and going berserk. Well, without Azura's interference this time. I've had dreams of Xander and the rest getting killed, or they wanted to kill me. Ah, I even had a dream last night where Elise jumped in front of me to save me from a death blow… And if it's none of those, I get to see the vengeful spirits of those I have killed in this blasted war." It was clear that the girl's choice for her home country, instead of the family who had raised her, was starting to take its toll on her.

"I see." Jakob mumbled after a moment of silence. "You know, the same thing would probably have happened if you chose to stay with Nohr instead. You shouldn't doubt your choice. If you're doing that, there's no point." It was true: Corrin did think a lot about her decision, and doubt was only natural with all the consequences as a result. "I know that I can't go back now. Still, sometimes, I…"

"Milady, if I may be so bold; whatever you do, there will be people who are going to be hurt, there will be victims. It would be best for you to accept that as soon as possible, you do not deserve this emotional pain you're inflicting on yourself." Jakob tried convincing her. "You will probably have these nightmares for a while, but with time, they'll disappear. Of course, I could make you some of my tea, to calm your senses?" He offered, which finally let a smile appear on his dear liege's face. "That's sweet of you Jakob, I really don't know what I'd do without you. However, I think I'll take a walk for a bit, to clear my head. Thanks for this talk though, I think it helped me." Her servant was still a little hesitant to leave her alone again, though. "Don't worry about me, you can just continue, uh… your butlery duties." She reassured him, and he ultimately left her room.

Corrin had decided to wander through the castle halls a bit, she might even run into someone who's still awake. "And w-what happened afterwards? C'mone, I can take it!" She heard the familiar voice of her younger sister, and let out a breath of relief. For some reason she was still awake, and a talk with her would probably be able to lighten her mood. "Well, after the girl heard those footsteps-" "Hey, Sakura…Oh, and Azura, too! What are you two up to this late?" The princess entered the redhead's room and saw Azura and her sitting on pillows around a lit candle. "O-Oh, big sister! Uhm, Azura was telling me a…story. W-we actually do this quite a lot." The redhead explained, feeling nervous as she feared that Corrin had noticed how she was trying to give herself some courage to hear out Azura's story earlier. She was a bit scared that her big sister would make fun of her for it, but the albino seemed completely oblivious to her reaction, so that was a relief. "Really?" The dragon girl questioned. Whatever story it could be, Corrin reasoned that it would definitely help her think about something else for now. "Mind if I butt in, Azura? You don't have to restart the story, I'm sure I'll be able to catch up." The songstress nodded with a slight grin, and Sakura got ready to object. "I-I don't think that's a good-" "Sure, Corrin, why not. I'm sure you'll love my stories. Have a seat!" She interrupted Sakura from warning Corrin, barely able to contain her laugh. The stories she liked to tell were usually ghost stories, scary ones at that. The Hoshidan princesses both knew how easily Corrin got scared, which amused Azura to no end.

"Alright. After hearing footsteps in the hall, the girl started panicking. She knew no one in the mansion should be awake by now, although it was still possible that one of her servants were still awake. Jokingly she had thought of the old legend that was circulating through town earlier..." The songstress continued her story. "Ah, the legend is actually based on a real one about a castle we have recently claimed. Any idea how it goes?"

"R-Really?! I don't know..." Sakura thought, but really didn't have much of an idea. She knew what direction it would go, knowing Azura, and felt a bit nervous again. Corrin stayed calm however, curiously eyeing the older girl. "Well, it was said that the previous owner of the mansion was brutally murdered by an enemy ninja. However, said ninja used a cursed shuriken which would prevent anyone killed by it to reach the afterlife, they're forced to dwell around for eternity at the location of death, losing all common sense and going berserk." Azura grinned as Sakura let out a squeal. Then she changed her gaze towards the other princess, whose face was growing pale and who had a drop of sweat running down her cheek. "Azura, I'm not feeling too well. I think I'm going back to..." Being amused, Azura silenced the manakete, sat closer to her and placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, who was trembling a bit.

"Shrugging it off, she armed herself with a single dagger and decided to investigate the footsteps. She wandered through the hallways, but found absolutely no one. Until..."

"Until what?!" Sakura interrupted her story with a yell, blushing immediately as she realised how loud she had been. The songstress chuckled, Corrin felt even worse as the story progressed. "As she turned around, her eyes met with those of that man! Or rather, the ghost of him. She froze in fear, but not only because of his fearsome appearance: He was holding a dagger at her neck, and start laughing a loud, maniacal laugh that resonated through the building. Before the girl could say anything however, the monster stabbed her violently and she died on the cold floor that night, right in front of that same painting from earlier. But you see, that dagger- wait, Corrin!"

The blue haired girl immediately regretted her actions as she saw Corrin run off, trying to hide her tears. "Azura... I don't think this was a good idea." Sakura muttered on a sad tone, and she was right; Azura had been cruel to the princess. The day when Corrin had told them about her fears Azura had done something similar, but her reaction hadn't been that bad. "I'll go and look for her." She mumbled, receiving a quick nod from the redhead.

The songstress had hoped Corrin would have went back to her room and surprisingly, that seemed to be the case. As she approached the door she could her faint sobs from the other side, and her heart sank.

"Corrin?" She tried whispering after a bit, softly knocking on the door. The dragon girl appeared to ignore her, or maybe she simply didn't hear, so she repeated her actions a little louder. "Listen to me, Corrin."Azura tried again, but still didn't hear any movement coming from the other side of the room. "I know you can hear me. What I did was unheard of, especially with death being right around the corner these days. …I'm sorry." It appeared to have no effect however, and she decided to go away for now and come back later; pushing her now probably wouldn't solve anything, or so she thought. Just as she turned around however, the white haired girl quickly open the door halfway.

"Wait, it's… Not your fault, d-don't mind me." Corrin apologized, half stuttering due to the tears that were still rolling down her face. "Still, I mean it. But it's not just my story that got you into this state, is it?" Azura replied calmly, catching the girl off-guard a bit. "D-Don't tell me… Am I that easy to r-read?" The albino questioned, letting the songstress in and sitting on her bed with heavy sigh. "Hmm, not really. Well, I'm assuming it's recent changes that are stressing you out. Come now. I don't know you for that long yet, but… This is not the Corrin I have come to know. Please, dry your tears."

Azura sat down next to her, softly placing a hand on her cheek and turning her head slightly so she faced her, and whipped away a tear with her thumb. Surprised by the sudden sweet gesture, Corrin couldn't help but blush as the blue haired girl was so close to her. She realized she had done the same thing herself to others before, and wondered whether it felt just as weird for them whenever she did it. It feeling weird did not mean that she didn't enjoy it, though.

"You look tired, you should get some rest." The songstress said when Corrin finally calmed down, to which she visibly tensed. "I'm…scared to sleep. I've been having these nightmares lately, and they're wearing me down. That's why I was wandering around this late, too." The dragon girl explained, earning a comprehensive nod from the dancer. "I can help you with that. You trust me, right?" Azura asked, and the albino nodded. She grabbed the chair from Corrin's desk and sat next to her bed. "Just close your eyes and relax." She said. Corrin wasn't sure what she was planning, but somehow felt at ease in the girl's presence. The songstress softly started to sing her signature song, and the princess swiftly fell into a deep slumber, her face bearing a very peaceful expression.

"Good night, Corrin." Azura whispered to her when she was sure her friend was asleep. She hesitantly followed up with a light kiss on her forehead, then quietly left for her own room.


End file.
